Starting your own 'Creative Intelligence' Alliance

Your Creative Intelligence Alliance is an advisory team that will be around for a long time - many years - and you need to build it with that goal in mind. You need to choose people who will inspire and support you, and who will evolve with you as your business grows.

Members need to remember they are free to "test drive" individual groups to see if they are a good fit for the personalities and business types involved. A potential member may come to a session to discover if the group is a good fit, and it should not be taken as an insult if they decide that it is not exactly what they are looking for.

All 'Creative Intelligence' Alliance are founded on one thing: trust. Without trust, members will not speak up and share their thoughts, nor will they listen to the advice of other people. The other key elements are: respect, cooperation, commitment, openness, and genuine caring. The absence of any of these elements will spell the end of the Alliance.

During the first meeting, there are certain decisions that should be made, including what is the goal of the group as a whole. Is it strictly business-focused? Is there a time set aside for socializing as well?

Other factors:

• What is the group name?
• What 'Creative Intelligence' Alliance format will it follow, or will it be free-form?
• What is the group mission? (The goals will be a part of this, but it should be worded in such a way that you can tell if the group is meeting its mission.)
• What geographical area will the members come from?
• What are the individual members goals?
• What do the individual members what to get from the meetings?
• How many members you would like to see in the group ideally?
• How often will the group meet? At what time?
• What is the meeting subject matter?
• What specific rules must be adhered to for continued participation? E.g. how many meetings can a member miss (per year) before they are replaced?
• What is the structure of the meetings? For example, some meetings will begin (or end) with each member stating how they have done with their goal for the past week, and setting a new one, thus instilling a sense of accountability for achievement.
• Are you planning to limit the group to compatible business owners in a particular sector, leave it wide open based on personalities, or to have only one business type?

You will find that most of the elements of the group structure are found in the listing when you browse the 'Creative Intelligence' Alliance listings on this site.